The latest NHL team to lay off employees explicitly because of the NHL lockout: the Phoenix Coyotes—who are owned by the league.

Tim Bulmer, the team's media relations manager, told Yahoo! Sports' Greg Wyshynski that he was the only staffer laid off this far, and that it was related to the NHL's ongoing inability to figure out how to split its $3.3 billion-and-growing revenue pie.

NHL lockout: The Phoenix Coyotes are owned by the league. (AP Photo)

The NHL bought the franchise out of bankruptcy in 2009 and has been unable to complete its sale to former San Jose Sharks CEO Greg Jamison over issues with its arena lease. The team has survived in part because the City of Glendale, Ariz., which has financial troubles of its own, has covered tens of millions of dollars in operating losses.

Other teams, including the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators, announced layoffs and restructuring earlier in the 46-day-and-counting work stoppage, but Wednesday's news is bitterly sad, if not ironic, because the league's other 29 owners technically own the Coyotes. They're the same guys that have endangered the season largely because they don't want to pay players the full value of their existing contracts.

The owners and NHLPA have agreed that players' share of hockey-related revenues should drop from 57 percent to 50 percent, but can't find common ground on getting to that point. Owners, citing the increased cost of running franchises, proposed doing it immediately while paying players in full for their next two contracted years against future earnings.

In the meantime, the reported cancellation date of the Winter Classic nears. That could happen as early as tomorrow, according to ESPN.com.

The sides have no negotiations scheduled, though they are communicating by phone and email. The schedule through Nov. 30 has already been canceled.